400 MW Solar Power Park Approved For Construction On Remote Japanese Island

April 5th, 2013 by James Ayre

A proposed 400 MW solar power plant has just been given the go ahead by the Japanese government to begin construction. The large solar installation will be located on a remote island in southern Japan, off of the city of Sasebo, and will supply the city with electricity via an undersea transmission line.

The new plant will be one of the largest completed in Japan. It is expected to create around 150 new jobs on the island. The government in the region is supporting the project with the intent of reducing its reliance on expensive gas imports and increasing its renewable energy capacity. The plant is expected to cost, in total, about 100 billion yen ($1,036 or £678 million).

Business Green writes: “The project was awarded planning consent [this week] and is expected to move forward in May when Photovolt officially launches a venture with its project partners. The news comes after the Japanese government last week approved 10 per cent cuts to the country’s solar feed-in tariff to 37.8 yen (27 pence) per kilowatt. The cut came into effect yesterday, reducing the returns developers are likely to generate from solar projects.”

Another big project announcement this week was that US company First Solar just acquired control of a 150 MW solar energy project in California, purchasing it from Energy Power Partners, an affiliate of The Goldman Sachs Group. That utility-scale solar project, Solar Gen 2, should be finished next year. It will be located in Imperial County. Construction is supposed to begin sometime this year.

Image Credit: Solar In Japan via Shutterstock

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Tags: 400 MW solar park remote island Japan, First Solar, Japan, japan solar, japan solar energy, Japan solar power park, Kyushu Electric Power solar power, new solar energy Japan, Photovolt Development Partners, Sasebo, Sasebo city solar farm, Sasebo solar

About the Author

James Ayre 's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.

apostasyusa

that comes in about $2 per watt installed. that’s a great price!

Lets see, $.39 per kW = $390 per megawatt, times 400 megawatts, times 5 hours a day, times 350 days a year = about $270 million a year in revenue. This system pays for it self in less then 6 years at current feed in tariff rates (which are sure to drop again).

A great investment!
- Ronald Brakels
  
  Well, $2.50 a watt, but still good for Japan. Their solar installation costs are obviously falling rapidly, as would be expected since they’re following in the footsteps of Germany and other nations.